The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) filed a complaint [PDF] against Facebook on Friday. HUD accuses the social media company of violating the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination in print and online advertisements on the basis of race, religion, physical ability, gender, and other attributes. Read the rest

In secret court proceedings, the U.S. government is trying to force Facebook to help wiretap Messenger. Facebook has declined, so the Justice Department is asking a judge for an order of contempt. Read the rest

Tijuana Bibles are little 8-panel pornographic comic books that were popular during the Great Depression, and usually starred famous comic strip characters, like Blondie, Popeye, Dick Tracy, and Mickey Mouse, engaging in all manner of carnal congress.

"Tijuana Bibles" or "8-Pagers" were palm-sized pornographic comic books produced from the 1920s to the early 1960s. The usually crudely drawn hardcore thrusting and pumping was illustrated by anonymous artists, and produced in secret printing facilities, as these spunky pen and ink hi-jinks violated about 20 different ye olden laws. Their popularity peaked during the Great Depression era selling millions of "under the counter" copies.

Well, I thought those were just memories from a bygone era, until I came across a source while taking my annual Tijuana vacation and bought all the store had, which was a boxful of little porno pamphlets called “Donald Trump in 'Why Does It Always Rain On Me’?”

It’s 8 (not including covers) sweaty 3" by 4 1/4" pages of palm pounding fun as our President and the lovely Superstar Stormy Daniels (plus a surprise love interest) get it up, get down and get it on!

A Salt Lake City-area lawyer named Walter J. Plumb III is trying to remove Utah's medical marijuana initiative from the ballot in November. Plumb, who owns a pharmaceutical company called Pharmics Inc., asserts that his religious right to be intolerant of sick people who use cannabis to treat their illness is guaranteed by the constitution. He has spent over $100,000 of his own money in his effort to prevent allowing Utahans from voting on the issue. Read the rest

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have published a free graphic novel titled "The Junior Disease Detectives: Operation Outbreak," some of which is set at a state fair where a teenage 4-H member is infected with swine flu. As CNN reports, the comic's plot is similar to what actually happened this summer at two state fairs. From CNN:

At the California Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles, which took place in San Luis Obispo County from July 18 through 29, two people fell ill after attending the fair. Similarly, two attendees of the Fowlerville Family Fair in Michigan, which took place in Livingston County from July 23 through 28, also became sick in the days after.

Public health disease detectives in both states immediately tested the patients for variant influenza virus, a flu strain that normally circulates in swine but not people. Person-to-person transmission of variant strains is uncommon, and you cannot catch this type of flu from eating pork.

About 7 or 8 years ago, I started experiences episodes of smelling a burning paper odor, even though there wasn't any source for the odor. It would last for a few days, then abruptly stop, and return a few weeks later. I started tracking these episodes, and found that they are very loosely correlated with lack of sleep and stress. Sometimes the weird smell starts while I'm feeling great, though, so I really didn't know what the cause was. I asked Oliver Sacks about it when I was interviewing him about his book Hallucinations, and said he had no idea why I smelled things that weren't there.

The study found that phantom odor perception was more prevalent among "among women, younger age groups, and those of lower socioeconomic position," and was "more common among those with poorer health, a history of head injury, or dry mouth symptoms."

Head injuries as a possible cause might explain why I experience this. When I was 13 or 14 I was skateboarding down a steep hill in Boulder Colorado without a helmet (Columbine street, for those who know it). I don't remember falling off the board. I woke up in the ambulance with a broken nose, a torn chin, and knocked out teeth. Read the rest

Steve Tamblyn of Adelaide, Australia was frustrated at his neighbors that didn't pick up after their dogs. So he set up a security cam, captured an image of a dog and its lazy walker, printed out the evidence, and posted it by the poop. So far, the funny but passive aggressive technique hasn't actually led to the individual cleaning up the mess but he's hoping it will deter others from shirking their responsibility. (ABC)

Steve from Mitcham has had enough of dogs leaving surprises on his front footpath. He told @ali__clarke he captured this video & printed the image to display on his front lawn, in a bid to encourage dog owners to clean up after their dogs 🐶 #Adelaide#Dogspic.twitter.com/7MWjKYZxKE

Members of the Satanic Temple held a "Rally for the First Amendment” yesterday at the Arkansas State Capitol, where they unveiled an 8.5-foot bronze statue of Baphomet with two adoring children at his side to the Arkansas State Capitol. The Satanic Temple is suing the Federal Government for the right to permanently install the statue on the Capitol grounds, arguing that since the Capitol has a Ten Commandments monument, other religions must be allowed to display their symbols there, too.

A group of Christians also attended the rally, and those interviewed by KATV were articulate and respectful of the Satanists and their statue. "God loves them, and we love them," said one. "These people are here in support of their beliefs, and I'm here in support of mine," said another. "Fortunately we live in a country that allows freedom of speech, freedom of religion. I may not necessarily agree with their faith, but I respect it."

The only person who came off as a nutcase was Senator Jason Rapert (R), the lawmaker who successfully led the unconstitutional campaign to erect a Ten Commandments monument on the Arkansas State Capitol grounds. He said in a Facebook statement, "No matter what these extremists may claim, it will be a very cold day in hell before an offensive statue will be forced upon us to be permanently erected on the grounds of the Arkansas State Capitol."

Worth noting: In 2017, the Satanic Temple sent Arkansas legislators a letter, asking them to sponsor a bill, that would allow for a statue of Baphomet to be placed on capitol grounds.

The scientist/artists in NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio created this magnificent video to accompany a recent performance by the National Symphony Orchestra Pops of Claude Debussy's "Clair de Lune." From NASA:

The visuals were composed like a nature documentary, with clean cuts and a mostly stationary virtual camera. The viewer follows the Sun throughout a lunar day, seeing sunrises and then sunsets over prominent features on the Moon. The sprawling ray system surrounding Copernicus crater, for example, is revealed beneath receding shadows at sunrise and later slips back into darkness as night encroaches...

The visualization uses a digital 3D model of the Moon built from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter global elevation maps and image mosaics. The lighting is derived from actual Sun angles during lunar days in 2018.

This video is the first time I've seen or heard of Fox News host Trish Regan, so I don't know anything about her, other than the fact that she thinks Denmark is a very bad place because it is socialist just like Venezuela. I don't know if she's been to either country, but she spouts a lot of facts about Denmark, all of which happen to be very fake news, beginning with, “Denmark – like Venezuela – has stripped people of their opportunities,” and follows with zingers like “Not only is school free, they actually pay you. You know what happens then? Nobody graduates from school. They just stay in school. Because that’s the reality of socialism… Nowadays all the kids graduating from schools in Denmark, they want to start cupcake cafes.”

Dan Jorgensen, a former government minister from Denmark, takes delight in using statistics to demolish every one of Trish Regan's bogus claims.

So Danes don’t wants to work? 11 places better than US in OECD statistics! We are working much more than Americans and at the same time ranking as the worlds best in Work-Life-Balance. You should come to Denmark if you dare be confronted with facts @trish_regan 😀🇩🇰 pic.twitter.com/hFf9ysy62x

Trish Regan has issued a new lie to cover-up her earlier lies on the segment: “I was never implying that conditions in Denmark were similar in any way to the current tragedy on the ground there in Venezuela. I was merely pointing out… that socialism is not the way."

President Donald Trump sought to cast blame Friday for the cancellation of his planned military parade on Washington city council officials, saying they had inflated the cost. Soon after the President tweeted, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser claimed she "got thru" to Trump about costs for the parade, which at one point was calculated to run about $12 million but had soared to an estimated $92 million by the time Trump canceled the event.

Bowser shot back: "Yup, I’m Muriel Bowser, mayor of Washington DC, the local politician who finally got thru to the reality star in the White House with the realities ($21.6M) of parades/events/demonstrations in Trump America (sad)." Read the rest